Uniplaces is an online booking platform focused on student accommodation, founded in Lisbon in 2012 by Miguel Amaro, Ben Grech and Mariano Kostelec. The platform lists over 40,000 furnished rooms across 38 cities and has facilitated bookings from students in over 140 countries for more than 500,000 nights, generating over $25M in bookings for landlords since launch. Properties can receive a 'Uniplace Verified' badge after an on-site check; the company handles payments, charges a one-off commission on bookings, and sells a premium membership service to landlords. The startup plans to invest in developing its platform, grow its product team and heavily develop its mobile proposition. Geographically it aims to consolidate in nine core European countries (UK, France, Spain, Germany, Italy, Poland, Austria, Portugal and the Netherlands) while monitoring demand-side opportunities in the USA, Australia, China and Brazil. Prior to this financing it raised £2.2M (~$3.5M) in a Series A led by Octopus Investments last year. Uniplaces operates a student accommodation platform that lets international and domestic students book housing online while enabling landlords to list rentals. Launched in 2013 by CEO Ben Grech, the company verifies every student home on its site. In 2014 it raised £2.2m to support expansion. The company plans to expand into key student cities in France, Italy, Germany and the Netherlands, grow further in Portugal, Spain and the UK, and launch in Birmingham and Manchester by the end of 2014. Uniplaces had previously raised over £700k in November 2013. The new funding is intended to accelerate geographic expansion and market growth. Uniplaces operates an online booking platform for student accommodation, marketing a wide variety of properties from privately rented accommodation to professionally managed student residences. The company was co-founded by Ben Grech and first launched in Lisbon in 2012, expanding its website to include London in June 2013, which is now its headquarters. It lists more than 6,000 rooms in London and has placed hundreds of students. Uniplaces recently raised over £700k in seed funding and intends to use the proceeds to expand into additional geographic regions. At launch it was backed by Shilling Capital Partners alongside angel investors Alex Chesterman and William Reeve, who remain involved. UniPlaces offers an online marketplace aiming to replace the traditional process international students and professors use to find rental rooms and apartments. The product targets university communities with a user experience tailored to students and a performance-based business model. The company is already operating in Portugal and Chile and plans to expand globally, beginning with market entry in Brazil. UniPlaces is preparing a global site launch this summer to support that expansion. The recent €200K funding will support the Brazil entry and global launch. No revenue or user metrics were disclosed in the article.

Total raised

$29M

Funding rounds

4

Latest round

Series A

Latest activity

Nov 2015